so this weekend we went on a field trip to a sustainable ranch/education center.

it is a super cool place that was started by a couple from the U.S. 11 years ago.

And all 50 of us met up on friday to take the school bus there.

Yes this the second largest class i have ever been in.

Yes we do have school buses in grad school....they are small....its cause we are special

Yes we did stop for a 45 min bathroom break....lots of girls.....just one bathroom.

all together the trip was enjoyable.

i sadly don't have a bunch of awesome pictures to show you,

i had already visited the ranch last semester so i didn't think to take pictures.

now back to the title of this post.

about 15 of us girls had to stay in overflow housing in a bunk house at a different ranch.

this other ranch was located .5 kilometers away from our home stead

there was lots of rain and lots of mud and it ended up being somewhat of a huge mess.

and you know there are some moments where you just feel the need to cry

and let me tell you getting up in the middle of night in the pitch black dark and climbing down from the most unstable bunk bed ever and grabbing your rain jacket and flash light to walk in the mud up the hill to the bathroom, which is really an outhouseish place with a lovely view of the rainforest (the view was not lovely in the middle of the night) and sitting your bottom on wood is just the thing to make those tears roll out of your eyes.

Now shockingly i didn't actually cry (which is really surprising cause i am quite famous for my over active tear ducts) but i thought about crying.

but i didn't i walked back to my bed and switched my rain jacket for my fleece and climbed back in bed and then slept for three hours and then was woken up by the evilest birds ever.

i waited about 30 minutes and then i got up.

and ate oreos.....

when times get tough.....eat cookies

the view from the yoga deck

i never said it wasn't beautiful

i would just like to mention that this sign was not visible at night in the poring rain.

Sunday, September 29, 2013

this past summer i spent some time just about every morning on BART
here in Costa Rica I take the public bus all the time
and I spent lots of time on the Metro back in DC

and i always wonder the same thing...
what was public transportation like pre-cell phones (mainly iPhones)

(also lets just take a minute to discuss how crazy it is that i usually still have cell phone service when going under the bay...i mean underwater...and in case you were wondering you can't see the fishies..such a disappointment)

okay back to the point....(sometimes i get a little lost)
now a days everyone has there head in their phone and no one really bothers to say hello or even give a friendly smile because they aren't actually in the moment they are off in some weird place.
and so they miss the fact that their friend from high school is sitting two rows down or that there colleague from work has been taking the same train as them for two years.

even more so...did people use to fall in love on public transportation.
just think of it a lot can happen in a thirty minute metro ride.
and before with nothing else to do but maybe read a book.
how more likely were you to spark up a conversation with a stranger before the era of earbuds.
and where might that conversation have led.

how many people met their soul mates on the bus??
{now thanks to too many seasons of criminal minds i am aware you could also befriend a serial killer on the bust...but maybe he just needs a friend and doesn't plan on locking you in his basement (too naive??? i prefer to say optimistic, yep my friendly conversation is what would keep me from being kidnapped by a serial killer) see what i mean about getting lost sometimes}

well guess what even in this modern technology obsessed if it doesn't happen on facebook its not real world people still fall in love on the bus..
that's right.

this couple here met on a bus.
and they only had three stops together.
but that was enough to send the boy after her the next day
(yes this might be considered stalking...but hey its true love guys)

and a while later they got married on that same bus that they met on.
(not sure how i would feel about a bus wedding...i bet it is economical though)

just another wonderful story that restores my faith in this world.
that life really is simple
even with all the technology in the world

Monday, September 16, 2013

It was really fun to adventure around and someone it all ended up working out perfectly.

I love the size of SF, it really is a small city and besides the change of death by hills you really can walk all over it and cover a lot of ground in one day.

Our adventure naturally started with breakfast.

After all it is our favorite meal and it just wouldn't be wise

(or right) to start an adventure on an empty stomach.

We had attended to go to Mama's which is suppose to be amazing but the line was obnoxious and we had a full day ahead of us. So we tried a different little spot and it was wonderful.

Surprisingly I did not take pictures. Weird I know.

We did take the time to ride the Cable Cars.

They are absolutely wonderful and they dropped us off right by our breakfast destination.

The line of course was ridiculous, even though we tried to get there early.

While in line we got to hungry so I ran in and bought pre breakfast hash browns

from Burger King. I am not really a fan of fast food (thats a total lie I love fast food, I mean grease!!!! and potatoes!!! and soda!!! but I know it is bad for you and as someone who studies food culture I am well aware of its badness) but sometimes it just really is so darn great and sometimes you are just starving and you need hash browns!

And yes I can justify just about anything (wink)!!

We were super bold and decided to ride the cable car standing on the edge.

Yep that is as close as i get to living on the edge.

Let me tell you it is really hard to take pictures when you are holding on for dear life.

Here is the inside of the car. I am super impressed by the guys who drive these.

Not a job I would want.

Such a cute little sign.

We walked up to see Lombard St.

It was most definitely the most touristy place I went in SF.

There were so many people there taking pictures.

And it is really pretty.

But I also kind of just don't get it.

I mean it's more than a little silly.

We also went to Coit Tower.

And we were way to cheap to pay the seven dollars to ride the elevator to the top.

Also there was a really long line.

But that is what you get on a Sunday in the middle of Summer.

So here are some views from outside of the tower.

We accidentally found the stairs at Telegraph Hill.

Which was on our list, but we had actually forgotten about.

So it worked out perfectly.

I think if I had to live in SF I would want it to be one of the houses along the stairs.

They are in their own little garden world.

At the bottom of the stairs we found the Levi Strauss & Co. headquarters.

Levis are by far my favorite jeans.

They had their own museum.

It was super cute.

The store inside their HQ was awesome also.

It has a cabin inside of it that held the dressing rooms.

There were a gazillion things that I wanted to buy.

But I left my money in my wallet and the clothes in the store.

They also had some amazing couches in their lobby.

This was the view from them.

We might have taken a little bit of a rest there.

I just love signs.

Everywhere you go in the world they are equally ridiculous!

I have absolutely no idea what this was suppose to be a picture of but I love it just the same.

The bay bridge from a far.

And some boats.

We were going to the exploratorium but it was also extremely pricey and we didn't really want to pay to fight children to play with things.

Then we went back to the San Francisco Center and visited some of our favorite stores.